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More jungle noir, please! More, more, more! So yes, it's safe to assume that I loved "watching" Jake G. Panda in The Case of the Cursed Dodo. The book is written in movie/script format. Which could just have easily failed as succeeded, but, in this case worked quite well.

What did I love about The Case of the Cursed Dodo? Well, I loved, loved, loved the writing. More specifically the descriptions. Practically perfect in every way. I'll just share a few favorite bits:

That's Gloria. A dizzy grizzly who runs the front desk of this bunkhouse. She's a one of kind dame."Thanks, Gloria," Jake says, taking the letters. She gives him a big wink."Anytime, Honey."I wish she wouldn't call me that. It makes me feel all sticky. Besides, if there's one thing I ain't, it's sweet. (13)

and

Ernie's the hotel driver. A thick-skinned pachyderm with a chip on his shoulder. He lost his tusks in a hunting accident. And he's not the kinda guy to quickly forget. But I had a soft spot for the big fella. He had a lead foot and worked for peanuts. (21)

So the premise if you haven't guessed it is that the hero is a detective. Jake G. Panda is "in the protection racket. I'm the Last Resort's house dick. The hotel snoop. The resident fuzz. It's my job to keep the guests safe and outta harm's way" (9). The first case involves a missing hare (Professor Harry), a mysterious long-buried suitcase, and a 'cursed dodo.' Plenty of action and humor. Just a treat to read.

This week we’re excited to bring you Kapra, a font family inspired Polish magazines from the 1960s. Included with the set are eight variants and a huge collection of glyphs. See the complete collection here.

I am told that I "underplay" Black Tower Comics & Books. According to a good few, based in Europe, BTC&Bis Europe's largest Independent black & white comics publisher. They'd know, of course, but I'll stick to the claim of being the UKs largest Independent publisher.

All Black Tower comic albums (that is A4 format) are in black & white. Once you've had black and white you won't go back to colour, baby.

BTCG has specialised in presenting original material covering super heroes, crime, adventure, sci fi, horror as well as illustrated prose -not to mention ground breaking books on "world mysteries" and wildlife. Oh, and even a huge book of interviews with comic creators and publishers.

All the books are, naturally, available for overseas licence -but we cannot translate work: that will be up to any licensed publisher.

What follows is a brief glimpse at some books but you can visit the online store to see more details and books at:

Black Tower Comics began in 1984 as a Small Press publisher of A5 (US -Digest size) titles such as Adventure,Presents,Windows and Hanley's Garage. Then came the news, reviews, previews and interviews publication backed up by the mart and mail order service -Zine Zone (later Zine Zone International).

In 2009, with the innovation in publishing of Print On Demand (POD), Black Tower jumped in head first!

One of the first titles to see print in the new comic album format (A4) was The Bat Triumphant! This saw the complete story, begun in Black Tower Adventure vol. 1. William A. Ward's long lost 1940s character once again saw print as he fought a host of enemies in an attempt to reclaim his homeland.

And while The Bat may have fought fist and nail to reclaim his homeland, another 1940s Ward creation, Krakos the Egyptian, seemed far from willing to claim a new Egyptian Empire as promised to him by the Gods. Tackling a number of foes and even encountering the Many-Eyed One, Krakos turned his back on the gods and the final panel of Krakos -Sands Of Terror, delivered a true twist!

Of course, the flag-ship title had to return! And so Black Tower Adventure -eventually reaching new heights when the legendary Ben Dilworth jumped on board! Volume 2 consisted of ten issues. Just look at these covers....

And, with something like 40 years worth of files and investigation reports could all that much delving into UFOs, lake and sea creatures and many other mysteries not result in a book or two...or three? Some Things Strange & Sinister, Some More Things Strange & Sinister as well as Pursuing The Strange and Weird: A Naturalist's Viewpoint set a precedence.

Whereas for decades those involved in "UFOlogy", "Cryptozoology" and "Forteana" declared many mysteries, that photographs were lost "to history" and so on, these three books swiped away the false claims. Alleged lost photographs -found. 'Mysteries' solved by doing actual research work and reading the sources -something others had never done.

And, of course, mention natural history and Black Tower Books broke new ground with that in The Red Paper: Canids.

But not all the prose books covered mysteries and wildlife. There were the comic creator interviews, too!

And if there is one thing "Herr Professor" loves it is discovering and presenting long lost UK Golden Age (1939-1951) comic strips and characters from publishers such as Gerald Swan, Foldes, Denis M. Reader, Cartoon Art Productions and others.

Scanned and restored as best as can be considering the poor print quality of the rationing years -especially red, orange, yellow, blue and purple ink printing!

Ace Hart The Atomic Man! The Tornado! TNT Tom! Dene Vernon! Acromaid! Cat-Girl! Bring 'Em Back Hank! Robert Lovett:Back From The Dead and so many other action heroes and humour strip characters -William A. Ward, Jock McCaill and a host of known and unknown creators contribute -either in single volume " Black Tower Gold" albums or all six collected into the 400+ pager -The Ultimate British Golden Age Collection!

Another great love is Centaur Comics from the United States. Right at the very start of the American Golden Age of Comics Centaur had creators who were ahead of the others! Before Plastic Man there was Plymo! Before The Human Bomb there was TNT Todd! Before Green Arrow and waaaaaaay before Hawkeye there was the mysterious red hooded archer called The Arrow! And, to just break your comic mind world there was even a Black Panther -decades before Kirby came up with his character of the same name.

The Eye Sees All. The Owl. The Iron Skull. Amazing Man. The King of Darkness. The Invisible Terror. The Blue Lady. The Shark. Mini Midget & Kitty. Mighty Man. Super Anne. The company may have been short-lived but it's characters -oh boy!

The two volume Centaur Heroes Collection has been compiled into one sweet 140 page comic collection!

Horror. Ghost stories. The twist-in-the tale. Did you think that a publisher who is a big horror comic/film fan would ignore these?

Nope. Each year since 2010, BTCG has published a Tales Of Terror anthology album and 2014s included some fun and spooky lost Swan Comic strips. I mean how can you go wrong -even Ben Dilworth is in these!

The Church Of England has it's own basher of dark forces in the Reverend Merriwether -"God's Demon0-Thumper" as the press billed him. From an ancient Egyptian demon to a village of the damned and Varney the Vampyre, werwolves and a final confrontation with Satan himself -Merriwether pulls no punches and offers no compromise. And in those last few seconds between life and death, Merriwether's mind recalls past cases -thanks to Ben Dilworththe Tall Man of Osaka.

Merriwether: God's Demon Thumper and Merriwether: The Test Of Satan are available as individual comic albums or in one swanky book The Collected Merriwether: God's Demon Thumper.

Oh, did I forget to mention Dene Vernon -British comics' first investigator of the supernatural and strange mysteries? I did? Unbelievable since Gavin Stuart Ross drew the 1948 based Dene Vernon: The Thing Below!

And did you know Ross also drew the two adventures of Victorian mystery man Chung Ling Soo? Chung Ling Soo: The Curse Of The Jade Dragon and Chung Ling Soo: The Case Of The Thames Serpent were two cracking tales of magic, adventure, murder and deception -still available as single comic albums or collected together to form The Adventures Of Chung Ling Soo!

Ben Dilworth is no slouch either! Chung Ling Soo's police "counter-foil" isnone other than old London "Jack" (police man) Inspector Wilberforce and when Dilworth says "Here's a Wilberforce one-off: PUBLISH IT!" you do not argue!

And did you know you can be a Gold Master of Japanese Haiku? Well, neither did I -but guess what? Ben Dilworth is such a master and his Osaka Brutal features his Haiku in English!

Old saleman that he is, Dilworth just keeps on going. He produced Aesop's Fables -a darker version of the childrens tales and then went on to write two well illustrated prose albums looking at spirits and demons -Dilworth's Japanese Yokai and Dilworth'sWestern Yokai. Osaka and the Yokai books were combined with Aesop's Fables into the one volume The Collected Ben R. Dilworth -though the single volumes are also still available.

Horror comics yes but also some nice illustrated prose from Dilworth in...Dilworth's Horror & Ghost Stories but for the connoisseur those stories were collected together with the Phantom Detective comic strips into The Complete Phantom Detective! (cover currently being "re-mastered"!)

And could anyone forget the sensational Iron Warrior Versus Big Bong:When Giants Fought? But add to that the various Iron Warrior strips from Adventure and you get The Iron Warrior Collection -When Giants Fought! In the 1940s, William A. Ward's creation was to be the most graphically violent comic strip seen until the 1970s. That is some legacy. It continues....with a touch of fun!

In case you are wondering, yes, obviously there are super heroes. Mix in ancient pantheons of gods, giant robot, alien invasion, Lovecraftian dark ones and so much more that the book runs to over 320 pages then you have part 1 of Terry Hooper-Scharf's Invasion Earth Trilogy" or as it is titled Return Of The Gods: Twilight Of The Super Heroes! And epic ending with the words: "Dr Morg has killed us all" -and if you have never read the mind altering counter actuality that is The Dr Morg Trilogy you may be saying "What? Who-?"

And part 2 of the trilogy The Cross Earths Caper ought to get you in the mood for 2015s big 31st Anniversary third part of the trilogy The Green Skies.

If you pass the ESTC (Epileptic Seizure Test Cover) on Dr Morg well, you are fit and healthy enough to read it and to check out all the Black Tower Comics and Books at the online store -see why we are the UKs largest publisher of Independent Comics!

Youth librarians have a tool belt full of skills that make us successful working with kids. I'm thinking programming, eagle-eye/mind youth literature chops, organization and planning, creativity, advocacy, child development and behavior management know-how, budgeting, PR, partnership-making, IF, digital chops and far-future seeing.

But I have to say the one that is perhaps the dearest to my heart and present in the very most successful youth librarians (and really anyone who works with kids) may be the simplest and the one most taken for granted - translating adult concepts into readily understandable language that kids "get" immediately.

This isn't talking down to kids in a babyish or patronizing way. It's simply taking something complex - whether a word or concept - and making it kid-friendly/understandable.

It's easy when we get into any occupation, hobby group or organization, to quickly become submerged into the jargon associated with that activity. I mean it's just the shorthand used with those we are in close contact with so we can zip through what we're doing. I would for-instance ALA's many unit acronyms that, while they scare some librarians, are really a quick way to communicate.

I applaud youth librarians who come up with great ways to let kids know how our library works or to introduce a concept. Here are a few samples from our shop.

How This Whole Library Thing Works:During field trips, we ask the kids who the books belong to (the librarians? Nooooooo; the library? Noooooo; You? YESSSSS!!!!) The books belong to and are shared by all the kids and grownups in the community! Then we tell the kids them the library is like a house that the books live in. But books love to visit with kids at their house. With a library card, children can take home materials for a nice visit. And, just like a visit from a friend (we all know that visiting friends don't stay forever), the books have to return home to the library after a few weeks so they can visit with other children.

Old Maps = Google Earth?During a tour with middle schoolers of our amazing archives, our archivist was showing the kids a huge old map book used for fire insurance purposes. Peeking over her shoulder, it struck me how to make the experience connect for the kids. Our archivist facebooked: "Shout out to my colleague Marge Loch-Wouters - when I was showing groups of 7th graders a Sanborn Fire Insurance map, Marge summed it up by saying "This map is like an ancient Google Earth image." Nailed it!"

The Animals Made Us Do ItWhen we closed off a running/jumping/general amok portion of our big boat, the preschoolers were a bit taken aback. But our colleague Brooke came up with a great way to navigate them through the change. She shared with the team: "I’ve started calling it our animal boat. Because all of our animals decided they needed a place to live, so they picked the boat. The other side is our “people boat”. If they say they want to go up to the giraffe I just ask, 'Are you an animal? No, you’re a person, silly!' "

How to Say It So Kids Listen/UnderstandIn her "Management with an Iron Fist" series and soon to be taught CE course and day-to-day work, colleague Bryce breaks down how to communicate in a way that kids can easily understand and get the behavior you expect. These now classic posts break it down.

What do you say to help kids understand how and why the library works that translates into real-kid-world understanding?

The venue was a big surprise. I'd never visited Walthamstow Assembly Hall before, and it felt like the big People's Palaces I'd seen during my student days in Moscow. Heavy, grand, and a bit imposing. But cool!

Check out the words above this doorway: FELLOWSHIP IS LIFE AND THE LACK OF FELLOWSHIP IS DEATH. ...WHOAAAA.

I guess it's the Fellowship of the Rings, check out the ceiling pattern. Here's what the hall looked like before the school coaches rolled in. (That's Reeve ahead, carrying my red Sea Monkey bag and his ukulele.)

And here's our presenter, magnificent ringmaster Steven Butler, who grew out his twirly moustache just for the occasion. You might know him as the guy who writes the Dennis the Menace books. He's been ringmaster for the whole tour, and he's still on his feet. Wow!

Steven memorized 'three unknown facts' about each of the speakers, which was rather impressive. My facts were: 1. When Sarah was born, her parents thought she was a sea monkey.2. When she escaped from the zoo, they were sure of it. 3. She now draws sea monkeys in an attempt to distance herself from these silly creatures.

Philip's facts: 1. Philip wrote his first book when he was five, and it was called When Spike and Spook went to the Moon. 2. Philip is actually a highly advanced android named Wilf. 3. Philip hates being called Wilf; please never call him that.

Here we are, just before going on stage.

And we did our thing, drawing a Sea Monkey, singing some songs, reading from Oliver and the Seawigs, demonstrating the Power of Science with the Nom-o-Tron from Cakes in Space. (I told the kid that if they wanted to learn how to draw their own Sea Monkey, they could find out on my website.)

I love meeting other authors at festivals and things, but I hardly ever get to sit and watch their talks; I either have to leave or we're on at the same time. So it was great to get the chance to watch Holly Smale, writer of the Geek Girl books, in action!

Holly got almost as much fanfare as Jacqueline Wilson, who entered to screams that rock stars would envy.

Jacqueline's famous not only for her books, but also for the chunky rings she always wears. So Steven decided he had to give her a run for her money on that front. Check out all the BLING!

We got to hear Michael Rosen tell stories:

And Francesca Simon talk about Horrid Henry (and Perfect Peter):

Holly accidentally left her phone on-stage, so Steven took a big selfie.

I thought, with that many other amazing authors present, we'd have a great time but probably not sell a lot of books. But I was WRONG! Oxford University Press brought a big table full of books and sold every single one, and kids were sad not to get even more! The kids were going absolutely mad buying everyone's books and getting them signed, it was awesome. And even kids who didn't get our books brought Holly Smale's World Book Day edition of Geek Girl up for me to sign. So I drew geeky Sea Monkeys, which was fun.

Huge thanks to the colourful Kirsten Grant and her team, who organised the tour, Steve who did our tech, Steven for being a wonderful ringmaster, Newham Bookshop for organising books, our lovely OUP publicists Harriet Bayly & Camille Davis, and the local libraries for the use of the venue. And, of course, to all the schools who came along, and to my fellow authors, who made the day such fun. I'm excited to see which book characters people are going to dress up as on Thursday, World Book Day!

WORLD BOOK DAY DRESSING UP: If you dress up as a character in one of my books with Philip or any of the other books, please please send along a photo, I'd love to see! Here are a few ideas from past years, if you're looking for some inspiration:

Today is the official publication of Razorhurst in the USA and Canada by Soho Press. For those of you who have been waiting since last July when it was published in Australia and New Zealand the wait is over!

For those of who you have no idea what I’m talking about: Razorhurst takes place on a winter’s day in 1932 when Dymphna Campbell, a gangster’s moll, and Kelpie, a street urchin who can see ghosts, tip the balance in a bloody underworld power struggle. As you do . . . You can read the first chapter here.

Razorhurst is my first solo novel since Liar in 2009. Loads of extremely fun research went into the writing of it. I walked every street in the inner-city Sydney suburbs of Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, and Kings Cross, trying to imagine what they looked like, smelled like, tasted like, back in 1932 when, according to Sydney tabloid Truth, the streets were crowded with “bottle men, dope pedlars, razor slashers, sneak thieves, confidence men, women of ill repute, pickpockets, burglars, spielers, gunmen and every brand of racecourse parasite.”

I talk more about my influences here and here on Scalzi’s Whatever. Alert readers may notice that I contradict myself in those two pieces. What can I say? The influences on this book were many! But in short: blood, razors and ghosts.

So far the response in the USA has been pretty stellar1 with starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal and Kirkus (“a dark, unforgettable and blood-soaked tale of outlaws and masterminds”). The Horn Book Magazine said this: “Yoking paranormal thriller, roman noir, and historical fiction, Razorhurst teems with precisely realized period details and an expansive cast of unsavory characters, as well as numerous allusions to the films noirs and Sydney history that inspired Larbalestier . . . intensely lucid and sharp.” Yes, I am blushing.

Razorhurst was just named as one of Publishers WeeklyBooks of the Week along side the likes of Kazuo Ishiguro. Double blush! It’s also one of the twenty books picked for Amazon’s Big Spring Books: Teen & Young Adult. Really thrilled to be on that list alongside books like Courtney Summers’ brilliant All the Rage. I may spend the rest of my life blushing.

Go forth and borrow or purchase from your favourite library or bookshop. Here’s hoping you enjoy!2

Note: For those wondering why I’ve not been responding to tweets, emails, comments here etc. I’m still not 100% recovered and have to save my keyboard time for rewriting my next novel, which publishes in the US a year from now and in Australia in November. I still love you all and hope to be less silent soon.

What? I’m allowed to pun.

And if you don’t here’s hoping you tell no one.

0 Comments on Razorhurst Out in North America Today! as of 3/3/2015 2:38:00 PM

So, I have seven books under contract. That is super cool and I am ridiculously lucky. I know it.

But I still feel like I'm not working hard enough. It's sort of like I spend so much time thinking, "Wow. I can't believe this is my job" and I worry that it will go away super soon because that's how everyone says publishing is.

So, instead of enjoying the fact that I have actually, miraculously:

1. Gotten books published and been paid for it2. Have more books under contract

I waste my time worrying that I won't get to do it much longer.

This is silly, I know. I should just be grateful, I know. Somehow though, my brain refuses to just enjoy the ride.

It’s even better than The Renegade Writer. At least that’s what Linda and I think. So I thought I’d tell you a bit of backstory about the book and why this gem of a book isn’t as popular as its big sister, The Renegade Writer.

When our first book took the freelance world by storm–okay, okay, that means we spotted it on the shelf of our now-defunct Borders–we pitched a follow-up book idea to our then-publisher Ed at Marion Street Press where we’d show readers pitch letters that sold. Only we had a twist: we’d interview the writer to learn how they came up with the idea, why they wrote their pitch they way they did, and what the experience of writing the ensuing article was like. Then we had a second brilliant twist: we’d interview the editor who bought the idea so we could show writers what captures the attention of this wily beast.

Ed loved the idea and gave us a book contract. He thought we should add an extensive FAQ at the beginning of the book that answered just about any question a writer might have about pitching an idea to an editor, and we did. We had our own questions, and we gathered questions both from new and experienced freelancers.

Next, we reached out to our network of writers and editors and asked them if they’d be willing to share with our readers a pitch letter that worked. I thought we’d have to twist a few arms and break a few legs to get people to volunteer–especially editors!–but it was easier than we thought it would be. Both writers and editors were generous with their words and their time, and it didn’t take us long to compile what we thought was a breakthrough tome for freelancers.

Here’s where we found the unicorn poop at the end of the rainbow. Right around the time our book went to press, Ed decided to sell Marion Street Press. Our book was released with little fanfare … and even less marketing support. Unlike The Renegade Writer, Query Letters That Rock was never picked up by the chain bookstores, or even the independents. Our poor little baby, Renegade Jr., was on his own.

We were hopeful that the new owners of Marion Street Press would recognize the potential of our info-packed book but despite promises of marketing blitzes and publisher support, they never came through for QLTR. In fact, they even went so far to stop paying us the royalties they owed us, which led us to getting the rights back to our books. That ended up being a Good Thing, although we didn’t realize it at the time.

Linda and I did the best we could with our books, but we had quite the learning curve. I won’t bore you with the details, but one day we both woke up–not together, you dirty-minded filth-monger–and decided it was time to behave like a Real Publishing Company, albeit a “renegade” one. More on that another time.

For right now, though, I want to say it loud and clear: there IS a follow-up tome to The Renegade Writer and it’s called Query Letters That Rock and yes, I’m biased but it’s a great book. Seriously. I read it now and then myself and marvel at how different writers express themselves and how wonderful it is that we can all have these different voices and STILL sell our work. It’s actually very reassuring to me, and I think when you read a few of the queries, you’ll feel reassured and inspired yourself.

To show you we’ve got the goods and to share just how awesome this book is, we’re offering a free sample. You don’t need to join anything, enter your name, or do anything but click this link and download:

p.s. If you’re feeling especially flush, you can order my e-book, Rock-Solid Queries: The 10 Surprising Reasons Why Magazine Editors Reject Your Ideas … and How to Write Queries That Get More Acceptances Today, along with Query Letters That Rock.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let the countdown begin for the release of the most anticipated Hip-Hop album in 2015, entitledPocket Full of Ghetto Poems by Eric D.Graham.

With several songs already released on Sound Cloud and Facebook, the Carolina-born (MC) confidently claims he has produced a Hip-Hip classic, which will super cede all expectations, which, eventually, will be discussed for years to come by Hip-Hopconnoisseurs.

As a result, as the final touches are being placed on the album, along with additional mix downs by Supreme DJ NYBORN, the songs have been selected for the “potential” ground-breaking project.

“At first, I thought to myself, this album could be a Carolina Classic….,” stated Graham, who is a graduated of Winston-Salem State with a B.A. in Mass Communication with a concentration in Radio and Television, with a minor in History, with an emphasis on African-American Studies.

“But, after, listening to the album, it might be a Hip-Hop classic. Seriously!!”

With that said, here is the final song list for the album: Pocket Full of Ghetto Poems:

Penguin Press will release the comedian’s nonfiction title on June 16th. Ansari became inspired to work on this project when he was drafting stand-up comedy jokes about dating.

In an interview with TIME.com, Ansari explains that this is “a sociology book that has my sense of humor, but it also has some academic heft to it. I wrote it with this sociologist, Eric Klinenberg, and he helped me design this huge research project that we did. We interviewed hundreds of people all across the world — we went to Tokyo and Paris and Wichita to really get a wide scope. We also interviewed all sorts of academics.”

Jim Trusdale had a shack on the west side of his father’s gone-to-seed ranch, and that was where he was when Sheriff Barclay and half a dozen deputized townsmen found him, sitting in the one chair by the cold stove, wearing a dirty barn coat and reading an old issue of the Black Hills Pioneer by lantern light. Looking at it, anyway.

"There is not one single thing I could ever tell you about Dean Smith that would do that man justice.” -John ThompsonNORTH CAROLINA-(BASN)-I am going to upset some people with this article.

But, I have to keep it real.Therefore, for those die-hard Carolina fans, I am not a devil-worshipper, which means, I am not a Duke Blue Devils fan.

With that said, first and foremost, I would like to give my condolences to the Smith family during their time of loss and grief, along with all of the athletes, who Dean Smith coached in the past, as well as his extended Carolina Blue family.

Truly, without argument, Coach Smith has had a great impact on college basketball and the way the game is played.

However, despite Smith’s unlimited wisdom and wins, which in his legendary career, totaled 879, along with 13 ACC Championships, he did not, I repeat, did not create the “four corners.”Sorry Tar Heel fans…

But, I won’t allow this lie to linger on even in death, especially during Black History Month.

Why? Because, as the Adolph Hitler stated, ‘If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.’

So, therefore, let me nip this in the bud, now…before another generation of ballers, are misled by the mainstream media, like NBC’s News anchor Brian Williams did this week, with his claims of being forced down by snipers, while flying in a helicopter in Iraq?Honestly, point blank period, the real inventor of the “four corners” offense was Dr.John McLendon, who coached at North Carolina College (North Carolina Central) in Durham from 1941 to 1952.

Yes, despite, what ESPN is reporting, Coach McLendon pioneered basketball’s full court game, using such strategies as the full court press, the full court zone (now known as the zone press), the open center of­fense whose variants include the “four corners,” the rotating pivot, and the double-pivot, according to www.nccueaglepride.com.

I suggest that all of you non-believers, who adorn Carolina Blue to watch the film “Black Magic,” which is a remarkable four-hour documentary directed by Dan Klores and produced by Earl Monroe, Libby Geist and David Zieff, which oddly enough aired on ESPN.

And, even though, I respect Smith for being the first coach to desire to integrate ACC Basketball, by recruiting Charlie Scott in 1966, when the University of Chapel Hill was as racist as any other southern school in the south, in order to collect a lot of wins and establish UNC as an economic and athletic powerhouse.

I, however, feel terrible that with Scott becoming the first African-American scholarship player at North Carolina, recruited by Dean Smith, that other top-notched Black athletes followed his lead, which literally destroyed Historical Black Colleges and Universities leverage to recruit them.

The Legendary Coach Clarence “BigHouse” Gaines’s, who coached basketball at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) from 1946 to 1993, where he compiled up 828 wins, eight CIAA titles, and one Division II NCAA Championship 1967, which made the Rams the first basketball program from a historically Black college or university to capture an NCAA national championship, wife Clara Gaines, seemed to have agreed with me when she said,“In the end we just all wish that integration hadn’t taken place. Because it did change things.”

Yes, with Black athletes like Scott going to UNC, with the help of Smith, college basketball did change, whether for the better or the worse, depending on your vintage point.

Honestly, in my opinion, it was a freshman from Laney High School in Wilmington, N.C. named Michael Jordan, who made Smith a household name in 1982.This, however, is debatable, like which came first, the chicken or the egg, on whether Dean Smith made Michael Jordan, or Michael Jordan made Dean Smith.

“He was more than a coach,” Jordan said in a statement. “He was my mentor, my teacher, my second father.”

Despite coaching NBA Hall-of-Fame players like Michael Jordan, Bob McAdoo, James Worthy, and Billy Cunningham, Smith was only able to mustard up two NCAA Titles, which, in my opinion, were by default.

I am not hating.

I know, a win is a win.

But, let’s remember, the 1982, UNC Championship victory came at the hand of Georgetown point guard Fred Brown, who blindly tossed the ball to James Worthy in the closing seconds.

Plus, let’s not forget, UNC’s 1993 NCAA title win against Michigan, when FAB-5′s Chris Webber made his infamous timeout-with no timeouts.

My point is, if it wasn’t for these two odd plays, Smith would have gone title-less, despite all of his alleged basketball brilliance.

Therefore, maybe the headline that read, “Smith was a better man than coach..,” is true after all.I am just saying…..

Rest in Peace Coach Smith.

May your spirit live on, in the Dean Dome, in North Carolina, and around the “four corners of the world,”thanks to Dr..John McLendon.

Eric D. Graham, a graduate of Winston-Salem State University, where he earned a B.A. in Mass Communication with a concentration in Radio and Television and a minor in History, with an emphasis in African-American Studies, is currently the Managing Editor of BASN, where his thought-provoking articles appear on a daily basis. To contact him e-mail at lbiass34@yahoo.com

0 Comments on BOBBEE BEE: From the 4 Corners of the World: The Legacy of Dean Smith as of 3/3/2015 12:46:00 PM

Nick Offerman, a star on NBC’s comedy Parks and Recreation, has signed on to star in the stage adaptation of John Kennedy Toole’s novel A Confederacy of Dunces.

Offerman will play Ignatius J Reilly, the lazy 30-year-old that lives with his mother. The Guardianhas more:

Offerman heralded the chance to play him, saying in a statement: \"I am simply tumescent at the prospect of assaying the beloved character of Ignatius J Reilly with our team of magnificent and weird artistic champions. It seems only fitting that I should follow seven seasons of Ron Swanson’s beef with the pudding of Toole’s corpulent fop.\"

The Red Paper: Canids Up-dated 2011 edition includes section on sarcoptic mange in foxes and treatment plus a list of wildlife sanctuaries and rescue centres in the UK.

By the 1700s the British fox was on the verge of extinction and about to follow the bear and wolf having been hunted for sport for centuries. The answer was to import thousands of foxes per year for sport. But foxes kept dying out so jackals were tried. Some were caught, some escaped.

Even wolves and coyote were released for hunting. The summation of over 30 years research reveals the damnable lie of "pest control" hunting but also reveals the cruelty the animals were subject to and how private menageries as well as travelling shows helped provide the British and Irish countryside with some incredible events.

The Girt Dog of Ennerdale is also dealt with in detail.

With the debate on the reinstatement of fox-hunting getting hotter as we draw closer to the UK general election and the Conservative Party promise to bring it back do not be misinformed! This book is the culmination of work begun in 1977 and draws on books published by fox hunting experts and giving an insight into their practices before it all really did go "underground". There are also -all fully referenced- accounts of the importing of foxes by the thousands into the UK specifically to "keep the sport alive".

But this was not written or intended as an anti-fox hunt book. The data is presented as found.

There is also a look at the history of wolves in Europe and how their reputation for being ferocious predators came about -particularly in France during severe Winters in the 19th century.

Coyotes, arctic foxes and jackals, amongst others, lived and bred in the UK and in some areas became so common that there were bounties for jackal heads. Menageries escapees is the usual solution to "how they got here" but the main blame is, again, mainly with local fox hunt groups even a wolf was due to be released in Devon for a hunt until protest from local farmers and live-stock owners stopped it. And Coyotes living in Epping Forest until the 1940s....

And there is more. The "Girt Dog of Ennerdale" has been identified by, amongst others, Cryptozoologists as a tiger or a Thylacine. The actual TRUTH is revealed in this work by doing something others have not: going directly to the source!

With one veteran naturalist calling this work "explosive" can you resist buying a copy?

Talks with Roger is a sponsored supplement to our free monthly e-newsletter, Notes from the Horn Book. To receive Notes, sign up here.

In the midst of a classic Boston snowpocalypse, it was pure pleasure to talk to Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner Floyd Cooper [in 2009 for The Blacker the Berry, written by Joyce Carol Thomas; Amistad/HarperCollins] about his new picture book celebrating a jubilant summer’s day: Juneteenth for Mazie, published this month by Capstone.

Roger Sutton: You grew up in Oklahoma, right?

Floyd Cooper: Yes, born and raised. Around Tulsa, Oklahoma. Spent summers in Muskogee, Oklahoma. And Bixby, Mounds, Oklahoma, where my paternal grandfather had some land. He’s one-hundred-percent Creek Indian, and he had this allotment of land that was given to some of the Indians there. We would go and work some of the farms my folks had, to supply produce to the markets and things like that. It was a typical Midwestern kind of a lifestyle.

RS: Do you find that childhood making its way into your books?

FC: Yes. I’m trying to get more and more of it in there. I was just back there last week, actually, and I got to see some sights that awoke in me things I had forgotten about.

RS: Was Juneteenth something you celebrated as a kid?

FC: Well, we didn’t really celebrate it per se, but it was talked about by my older relatives. I never really understood it fully until much later.

RS: But you’d go to a barbecue and enjoy it even if you didn’t completely know what it was for, just like in Juneteenth for Mazie. Her grandfather tells her about the barbecue and that there are going to be treats and soda there, because that’s how kids connect with traditions.

FC: That’s right. They’re just there for the goodies. But those are the ways into their memory bank. Everything is attached to those fun parts. If we’re lucky we have older folks who talk to us and make sure we at least know some of the traditions. There was a lot of that with my family. I knew my great-grandparents.

RS: Wow.

FC: They still lived on the farm they built. They moved up from Texas in a covered wagon, and they built this house of stone there in Haskell, Oklahoma. They were quite old, and they’d share stories. In fact, Uncle Mose, the character in Juneteenth, is my great-great-grandfather. He was from a plantation in Georgia. He was an ex-slave. There was a photograph of him hanging in one of the rooms at the farm that we weren’t allowed to go into. As kids we had our limits. I couldn’t quite make out the features, so it’s always been a mystery to me what he actually looked like. I’m on a search for that picture now. Maybe it’s something that will turn up in one of my books. Those things, they really do come into fine focus as you get older. There’s always that regret that you didn’t know then what you know now.

RS: Right.

FC: As a child, I would have quizzed my great-grandparents a lot more, gotten even more stories.

RS: How do you connect your own children to those stories?

FC: Telling the stories helps keep them in my memory. It’s funny how that works. The act of giving can also, in a sense, be a gift to you. You gain more insight and awareness as you pass the stories on. One of the beauties of the oral tradition is that it helps both the giver and the listener.

RS: Today if the slaves were freed, the news would be instantaneous. There’s no way the people of Texas wouldn’t hear it.

FC: That’s right. It would be all over Twitter. And that’s probably why it took two years for the news to actually reach Galveston. It traveled slowly, but it was deliberate, as much was in those days. With the culture of the black community, even before social media, there has always been this sort of a connection. It spanned geographic regions. It crossed social borders. I don’t know if you remember, in the days when they actually named dances, like you had the Twist? This was before your time.

RS: Do the Hustle!

FC: The Hustle and those dances. They were known instantaneously across the country by everybody. I don’t know how word got around. That’s just an example. Different things — the way of speaking, the slang, the verbiage, all of that was passed on. I can’t put my finger on how that happened. How would someone in Cincinnati, Ohio, know how someone in Oakland, California, would talk and act and walk, you know? It’s just amazing, that connection. I’m sure it’s like that with all cultures, there’s a sort of thread or a link that runs through, and it persists even with acclimation, with the sort of melting pot in which we all exist. Those ties — those cultural ties — remain true to that particular culture.

RS: To take the example of dances — you’d have DJs on the radio playing songs and saying, “Here’s the new Twist record.” And the DJ would listen to other DJs, so the record spreads, and of course the record company’s going around selling the record to the DJs, but then that doesn’t work unless the kids get into it. So Sally in Philly calls her cousin Sadie in Oklahoma —

FC: That’s right. It’s like a smoke signal, or like a drumbeat. Something very primordial. We find a way. And now we have social media.

RS: How do you think that will change things in terms of helping cultures to flourish?

FC: I think we’ll evolve into the medium, if we aren’t there already. It came on pretty quickly and caught us off-guard. I still know people who do not use Facebook. But I think we will evolve and take better advantage of it, and it will evolve along with us. Hopefully the internet will still be there, cleaned up and with the vision that we want it to be, as opposed to —

RS: The cesspool that it is today?

FC: Yes. I believe it’s going to get to where it’s supposed to be, but that’s just how I am, I guess. I’m a hopeful guy.

RS: And how do you see books surviving?

FC: It was put best by Stephen Roxburgh, an editor friend of mine. He was giving a talk about media, and he said books are just a bucket for words and thoughts and stories. The bucket can change, but the stories and the words, the expressions, the things that are in the bucket — that won’t change. You’ll always need that. So you have an electronic device that supplants a book, it’s just a bucket for these things. In that sense, it’s not that important as far as affecting the actual things that are in the bucket. We still need people to create for the bucket, whatever form it is. If it’s paper, or a bright light and a little flat tablet, we’ll still need content. That need that we have, as humans, to tell our stories and to hear stories will remain a constant through whatever technological change happens. We’ll carry that deep into the universe with us as we expand out further.

RS: Do you find yourself using digital tools more, as an illustrator?

FC: No, I still work traditionally for the most part. I have done some things just to experiment, but I still prefer the light in front of the painting, as opposed to coming from behind.

RS: It’s a big difference, isn’t it?

FC: Oh, it’s huge. Tremendously.

RS: I remember watching you demonstrate how you created a picture many years ago, in Hattiesburg.

FC: Absolutely. You’re the linchpin of the whole thing. Without you, it’ll all fall apart.

RS: Gotta have readers.

FC: That’s right. And viewers, absolutely.

RS: You’ve had a remarkably consistent style over the years. Ever want to bust out and try something else?

FC: I do, and I have attempted to do that a number of times, but there are constructs in place that help to hold you in place. People who buy the art — they want the comfort, I guess, of knowing what they’re going to get, so they tend to want what they’ve seen you do, as opposed to taking a chance and trying something new. But I am expanding on my own. I’ve been experimenting with a lot of different media. Hopefully I’ll be in the position to just be able to produce that someday, and not have any other issues at hand like paying bills.

RS: Right.

FC: Social media, that will help me to have a platform, to just post something and see what happens. It may be something out of left field. I use melted chalks and some other mediums and a different palette. It’s a lot of fun, to balance what I do for books with what I play with in my down time.

RS: You know, one way you broke out years ago has always struck me — do you remember Laura Charlotte? [written by Kathryn O. Galbraith; Philomel, 1990] A book about a white child, illustrated by an African American illustrator.

FC: Yes, and I remember your statement about that. In fact, I still use it.

RS: What did I say?

FC: You said — I’m paraphrasing here — Ezra Jack Keats had done Snowy Day with Peter, and Floyd Cooper has sort of turned that around with Laura Charlotte.

RS: It really was something that was rare. Do you feel boxed in?

FC: Sometimes you do. Basically what we try to do, as artists and writers, we seek humanity first. That has no pigeonhole.

RS: Right.

FC: Publishers tend to hesitate when it comes to experimentation. But there are people who do allow it to happen. I’ve done some interesting books with Stephen Roxburgh. He’s quite a visionary. He told us maybe seven, eight years ago that the cell phone was going to be the center of the electronic universe. Everything was coming down to the cell phone and a cloud. And we didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. But it certainly has come to pass.

RS: I just walked by someone in the hall who was asking a security guard if he’d seen her wallet, and I thought, “Which would bother me more, to lose my wallet, or to lose my cell phone?” You’d think wallet, but I don’t know.

FC: I misplaced my cell phone in Nebraska once, and I couldn’t sleep a wink. I found it later, but it scared me to death, and I began to realize just how connected we are to that device. It’s like another hand. It’s scary, at the same time, to be so dependent on something.

RS: Do you read books on yours?

FC: I don’t read entire books. I’ll read the blurbs, and then I’ll get the book. I still like the book. I’d rather have the actual book and a little lamp.

RS: You know, your publisher wanted to make sure I saw the latest edition of Juneteenth for Mazie, because I only had the ARC and there were changes made to the finished book.

FC: They should ban ARCs. I’m setting a bonfire to my copies. Have you written any books yourself? I’m going to turn the interview on you.

RS: I wrote a nonfiction book for teenagers a long time ago. And then I’ve written mostly books for adults about children’s books.

FC: Is that first book still out? I’d like to see it.

RS: It’s out of print. It’s called Hearing Us Out: Voices from the Gay and Lesbian Community, and it was published by Little, Brown.

FC: What year was that?

RS: It was 1994, before I worked at The Horn Book.

FC: Wow. That’s ahead of the curve. Everything is so different now in the gay and lesbian community.

RS: Yes. The book would be completely dated. A kid would read it today and think I was talking about Martians. Because the world for gay people is completely different. Do you think that our latest diversity push — #WeNeedDiverseBooks — is going to open things up for you?

FC: I am not sure. I think there will definitely be ancillary benefits from anything in that arena, because it’s just coming down to having an impact, even secondhand, on what I do. But as far as affecting me personally, I’ll just continue to do what I do. I try to get involved in some of those things — We Need Diverse Books. But I haven’t had time to be as attentive to it as I should. I probably need to get a little bit more involved, pushing for that.

As basketball lovers get ready for the second-round of the hated CIVIL WAR between Duke versus UNC, this time at The Dean Dome in Chapel-Hill on Saturday, we, at Black Athlete Sports Network, decided to poke some fun at both school in the week of Here Comes the Hater. Enjoy!!

NORTH CAROLINA-(BASN)-1. What was Dean Smith's greatest decision?

Recruiting Rasheed Wallace!!!! Yes Indeed.﻿

2. Was Dean Smith your "white" daddy?

No, my daddy was Black. Plus, I am a free Black man, off the plantation﻿

3. If you got a basketball scholarship from UNC, what would be your major?

African-American Studies....of course. Now, that was dumb question.

4. What advice to you have for Duke's Tyrus Jones?

Don't go pro!!! Stay in college and develop you game. Don't end up like Austin Rivers.

Eric D. Graham is a graduate of Winston-Salem State University, where he earned a B.A. in Mass Communication with a concentration in Radio and Television and a minor in History, with an emphasis in African-American Studies, is currently the Managing Editor of BASN, where his thought-provoking articles appear on a daily basis. To contact him e-mail at lbiass34@yahoo.com

Beginning on March 4th, “emerging writers from diverse backgrounds” can upload a resume, a writing sample, a completed release form, and an essay (500 words or less) “explaining how his/her background has influenced his/her storytelling.” Throughout the months of May and June, applicants will be chosen to take part in a series of interviews. Eight writers will earn a spot in this program.

According to IndieWire, those who are selected will take part in a week of master classes at the company’s Santa Monica campus. These fellows will study story development, pitching ideas, securing an agent, and networking. From there, “each participant will then enter into an 8-month writing phase where he/she will be paired with an HBO development executive and guided through the script development process. At the conclusion of the program, HBO will hold a reception and staged reading for industry professionals where the writers will be introduced to the entertainment industry.” Follow this link to learn more about the rules and details.